OUR INDIANA SANCTUARY: A SHELTER IN THE TIME OF STORM (April 2 - 22, 2020)

Because WYNDHAM decided to close all resorts, we found ourselves back in the hills of southern Indiana five weeks earlier than we had expected.  There is where we call home, even though we typically spend about six weeks a year there.  Sherry's parents left her and her brother about three adjoining acres each between Bloomington and Bedford. Curt had a nice home built and we put up a 12 by 20 cabin.  The land is mainly wooded and is nicely suited for the isolation required these days.

All our WYNDHAM reservations have been cancelled until Thanksgiving time in Branson, Missouri.  Surely by then things will have opened back up.  When your retirement plans call for you to spend ten months a year with family, friends, and WYNDHAM; a self quarantine really messes things up.

Fortunately the six acres are like a State Park.  There are flowering trees, a ravine with a flowing creek at the bottom, and lots of wildlife.  Thus, there are daily opportunities to be creative with my photography hobby.  Finding a quiet place to read is not a problem.

REFLECTIONS

Once more we are reminded of how quickly things can change. Once more we are called upon to make a choice.  Will we choose to become bitter, angry prisoners in our own homes or will we embrace the freedom to slow down and enjoy the simpler things in life?  You can either fester in your malaise against the virus, the decision makers, or China, or you can decide to spend the time encouraging others and thanking God for each dawning day.  It is difficult to do both at the same time. My heart goes out to those who have lost loved ones.  It is never easy.  Yet, whether a virus, an accident, a heart issue, cancer, or something else,  we are all mortal.  As of this day I have lived on planet earth for 26,230 days and if I survive this, perhaps, 90 day time of social separation, it will only amount to about .0034 of my lifetime to date.  I think I (we) can handle it.  Hope to see you on the other side; one way or another.

THIS TOO SHALL PASS (EDISTO TO INDIANA) (March 24-April 1, 2020)

Our final 9 days on Edisto Island, South Carolina, were spent trying to find a balance between enjoying the island and dreading the time we would have to leave.  The resort was shutting down and our greatly anticipated stay would be shortened from 7 weeks to 18 days.

Not only were we disappointed with the abbreviated stay but, also, were troubled at having to leave the safety of the secluded island and the near empty resort.  It had seemed the best option when leaving Florida.  We would rent a car and drive Edisto, buy food for the duration, and hunker down until the middle of May.  Then, as Covid19 intensified, Wyndham moved to shut down all resorts.

The final two weeks of our time at Ocean Ridge was spent in the Bay Point section.  For the final three days we were the only ones there.  The weather was perfect and temperatures in the mid 70s with plenty of sunshine made the thought of heading north to Indiana less than appealing.

We soaked up the sunshine , the silence , and the solitude while packing and renting a car for the 700 mile drive.  An unexpected consequence of the empty resort was that a family of Bald Eagles joined us at our beach (human beach going had been banned by the South Carolina Governor)

On April 1st we made the long drive to our Indiana cabin in the woods.  The plan is to hide away in hills of southern Indiana as long as we need.  So far, we are healthy and enjoying the coming of spring.

REFLECTIONS

During the last month I have again been made aware of how fragile life is.  We have heard about the death rates of, not just Covid 19  but heart disease, auto accidents, the flu,and many more.  Listening the these numbers tends to make one a fatalist.

The truth is that we will beat this! We will beat this like we have so many other maladies in our  nation's past.  In a book I am currently reading, I read these words concerning the Yellow Fever outbreak in 1797-98.  Sound familiar?

"Cities lost thousands of their residents ......impromptu hospitals were were rigged up at the town's edge to be tended by heroic volunteer nurses .....where every desperate cure was tried on hearsay .....houses were quarantined .....Those who were wealthy enough to possess both transportation and friends elsewhere fled the city."

There was, also, political animosity.  Benjamin Franklin's grandson (a journalist) died from the fever.
Here's what President John Adams wrote.

"He was one of the most notorious libellers of me.  But the Yellow Fever arrested him in his despicable career and sent him to his grandfather from whom he inherited a dirty, envious, jealous, and revengeful spight against me."

The point is that what happened in 1798 sounds a lot like what is happening now 222 years later.  I wonder, should Christ tarry , what will have been chronicled about us?

Stay safe and dream about that next vacation.  We may have taken the blessing of travel too lightly.  Remember, the best is yet to come!

Spring in Indiana

MY TEARFUL TRIBUTE TO MY TRUE FRIEND

Today a special friend and mentor transitioned from this life to eternity with the Lord he loved and served.  Clyde Barnhart was a faithful husband, loving father, and doting grandfather.  He was a caring pastor, successful CEO (Boy's Clubs of Cincinnati), and an outstanding preacher.  He was many things to many people.  To me....he was friend.

Someone has said that a friend is someone you love and they love you, someone you respect and they respect you, someone you trust and who trusts you.  Through times good and times not so good that was us; loving, respecting, and trusting each other.

I first met Clyde at church camp in 1965.  He was helping with the sports events and I was a Junior in High School.  He was a starting pitcher for the University of Michigan baseball team (MVP) at the time.  I asked him to speak to our youth group and he did. 

He would tell me later that it was his first time to do  anything like that and that he was scared  to death.  It wasn't too long after that that he felt a call to ministry.

After I graduated from college in 1970, I went to pastor in Taylor,Michigan.  Clyde was pastoring a church 10 miles away and a deep friendship was born.

It would take far too long to say all that I would like to say and bring way more tears then I have left.  But here are a few remembrances .



REFLECTIONS

 

I remember fishing trips to Lake Michigan, the Muskegon River, Northern Ontario, Lake Erie, and Sugar Creek.

I remember hunting trips for rabbits or pheasants.

I remember golf outings in Michigan, Ohio, and Florida.

I remember vacations to Tennessee  and Grand Cayman.

I remember prayer times over decisions we had to make.

I remember times of laughter and tears.

I remember tragedy and victories.

I remember so much and with each memory comes a story that makes me laugh or cry.

I will never forget my friend of 55 years and I pray that someday as those memories come flooding back once again that they will bring joy and laughter and not the heaviness and tears that now blur my vision.  My sorrow is not that of one who has no hope, but rather of one who has lost a loved, respected, and trusted friend.

For Clyde the best is not yet to come.  It has arrived.